Watch this space...?

 

I'm not setting dates, but I will be resuming updates. Eventually. I'm also limiting the updates to this site and deleting the Wordpress mirror by the end of the year (or whenever the account expires).

So, please, watch this space.

A brief audio update

 It's probably a bad sign if you're any kind of writer but feel that you can't put some of your feelings into words.

So I recorded a little audio-only video summing up what's been going on & why I've felt intensely unmotivated. This whole exercise has been a great reminder that I'm Boomer levels of tech unsavvy, but it felt like the best way to do it. If you're having trouble viewing it, please let me know.

I'm also wondering if I should punctuate the writing with more... free-form nonfiction pieces? Like blogs used to have? Or is that just another thing that has been consigned to the dustbin of the internet in favor of social media? We'll see.

What is The Mela Experience?

Hello and welcome. I started using the phrase "The Mela Experience" to describe some of the more ridiculous or bizarre moments in my life, and I've decided to repurpose it for a writing blog.

I plan to use this site to feature my original fiction, released in serialized form once a month. I've been writing since I was in grade school but reluctant to share my work with anyone, let alone request payment for it. So this is a way to just... put it out there, and if people enjoy it, that's wonderful! If people don't? Eh, I expected as much.

So please look forward to my work to start appearing here, as they are completed.

Current serialized story: Phantom Violet, a magical girl story about existing outside of time, reconnection, punching above your proverbial weight class, weaponization of body horror, and plot important cats. Links to each chapter below:

Chapter 1 - Into the Weeds

Chapter 2 - Dust Yourself Off And Try Again

Chapter 3 - Scraps

Chapter 4 - Life On The Shelf

Chapter 5 - Wild Girls Always Shine

Phantom Violet Chapter 5

 CHAPTER 5: WILD GIRLS ALWAYS SHINE

Earlier

Most of the students for the entry-level kids’ karate class had gone home. Naturally, the first to leave were those with parents who were free to attend & watch their lessons; after them were the students whose parents arrived just before the class was finished. Finally were the students who were picked up by one of their designated chaperones, which the Triboro Gym required each student to have for safety & security reasons. Usually, by this point, the children had all left the gym, but this particular evening, two had to wait. One had parents who were coming as quickly as they could but had been caught in a traffic jam. The other had one parent stuck at work and another out of town. Until they were safely on their way home, the rules were that the teacher had to stay with them.

This teacher, known to the students as Meg-sensei, didn’t entirely mind. Making sure her charges were taken care of was important to her, and she felt it’d be irresponsible to drop such a task on one of the high-school-aged senior students. She was willing to wait it out as long as necessary, just as she had done in the past. The two kids were both pretty well-behaved, which helped. Wyatt, a fair-skinned boy with dark brown eyes and auburn hair, was watching a game show on one of the general gym area’s televisions. Meanwhile, Kinsey - a girl with faintly olive skin, black hair, and gray-green eyes - was on her phone, sending text after text to her father. Compared to some of the other students in the class, these two were downright sedate.

A chime sounded from Kinsey’s phone. “Dad said he’s on his way,” she said, holding up her phone for Meg to see.

Meg glanced at the screen, not really reading the text messages. She didn’t like to intrude on other people’s conversations in any manner. “Great! Tell him to be safe and not to rush.”

“Okay,” Kinsey said. “Should I ask him to give Wyatt a ride, too?”

“It’s okay,” Wyatt replied, eyes still on the TV. “They’ll be here soon. That’s just how 130 gets.”

Meg internally sighed in relief. Even if offered out of kindness, the policy was the policy, and she had always felt awkward telling someone that they couldn’t do something out of kindness for arbitrary reasons. She knew, logically, that they really weren’t arbitrary, but she also knew that children didn’t always understand or appreciate why safety measures like this were in place. It was always better when things worked out on their own this way.

She watched Kinsey tap out a reply, then looked at Wyatt with a gentle smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll stick around till they’re here.” “Okay. Probably won’t be that long,” Wyatt said. He suddenly looked away from the TV and gently tapped Meg’s arm. “Meg-sensei? What’s that?” he asked in a low voice.

Phantom Violet Chapter 4

 CHAPTER 4: LIFE ON THE SHELF

July 7, 1999

Seth wasn’t sure if he liked working the mid-week shift at the Triboro Mall United Artists Theater. On one hand, it was usually fairly slow even during the summer, and unless the manager on duty got the itch to be a petty tyrant & force everyone to clean some random spot, it was generally pretty relaxing. Sure, some of the customers would be more prone to complaining than the weekend clientele (and he got quite a bit of it regarding concession prices), but at least his department didn’t have to field the complaints about movie content & issue refunds. On the other hand, being slow sometimes made the day go longer, or even worse - it left him alone with his thoughts.

It had been about four months since his step-sisters had departed, both separately called away to some otherworldly fight in a strange sparkly all-girl floral-themed army. He had known about Val, having seen her transform & defeat a monster in person, and she had been given the chance to say goodbye to their family. It was the angry calls the next day from their mother that revealed Jenn had held a similar role in her corner of suburban Illinois. That was thoroughly unexpected. His stepfather could barely handle it, and the inability to communicate with either girl once they had left had rendered him a nervous wreck. It was the uncertainty of it all that made the situation so difficult.

And it was that uncertainty that Seth felt returning as he watched the attract mode of the Darkstalkers 3 cabinet in the lobby. Val loved those kinds of games; she had always made a point to arrive early enough to movies that she could play a little bit before showtime. Like so many other small things, this cabinet had gone from ordinary to uncomfortable simply due to her departure.

The sightings & attacks of those monsters had finally stopped. That was the purpose of them leaving, right? To put an end to those things at whatever was their source? That was what the older Japanese girl had said. So since the attacks had stopped, that must have meant that they were succeeding in their goal. At minimum, they had managed to contain the creatures. Surely it wouldn’t be too long till they were back home.

Seth wanted some semblance of calm back in his household. For the unhinged phone calls to stop, for his stepfather to stop being so upset all of the time, for his mother to get a break from stopping her husband from stressing himself into illness. For his step-sisters to come back safe & sound and everything to go back to normal. But even if they did come back, that probably wouldn’t happen.

Phantom Violet Chapter 3

 CHAPTER 3: SCRAPS

January 14, 1999

Somehow, Val had managed to go two days without being spotted. She had never thought of herself as particularly stealthy, especially when she was transformed. The Triboro was a very… ordinary place, so a girl with bright green hair & a fancy purple outfit would be pretty easy to spot. Yet, she hadn’t de-transformed until she was sure she wouldn’t be seen; she had made it all the way to the edge of the Muller’s Mill region, where forest overgrowth and houses spaced out among the woods were the defining features of the landscape, before she let herself change back to normal.

Instantly, she regretted it.

One of the perks of being transformed was being heartier than normal - hunger & thirst disappeared and fatigue was nonexistent. However, if any of these were affecting you before transforming or if you did a lot of activity that would result in them while transformed, they would hit you extra hard once de-transformed. Val had discovered this after a particularly rough night, and now, having spent almost two days transformed after a very stressful morning, she was receiving a rude reminder of this fact.

She landed onto the hard forest floor as though being thrown, her face hitting the frozen soil. She forced herself to roll onto her back, too weighed down by exhaustion to even think about standing. The dimming winter sun made the barren branches of the trees seem even more lifeless, a sensation the chill of the cold ground against her back only amplified. Even with her winter coat, she could feel it, and she was in no state to try to evade it.

Finally, after what Val estimated to be hours had passed and the early evening darkness of January had fully settled in, she forced herself into a seated position. She crawled backwards until her back hit the thick trunk of an oak tree. She had to collect herself enough to figure out what to do next, because she knew she couldn’t stay where she was. Not the woods, not the Triboro, maybe not even the state.

She had endured a lot - beatings that she hid from her family, constant theft, having her belongings trashed, not being able to eat in peace, and worst of all, reminders of the knowledge that saying anything would just make things worse. She couldn’t even get her stepbrother to intervene on her behalf; he either had no idea what his friends were doing or was complicit with it - probably a mix of both. He probably told them about how hard she had worked on that jacket, how much it had meant to her - and thus gave them the idea to not just steal it but burn it. Right in front of Val, right after another beating, right as a crowd had started to form.

Was it really any wonder that she did what she did? No one was hurt, and the simple act of transforming had given Deanna & her lackeys a tiny taste of the fear Val had felt for almost an entire year. And that was before she even said anything, letting her frustrations pour out like a dam rupture. As she bounded off at the speed & agility afforded to her as Phantom Violet, Val felt good about her decision, even as she also felt that she had to leave. Leave immediately and never go back. It had been something that she needed to do.

Phantom Violet Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: DUST YOURSELF OFF AND TRY AGAIN

July 17, 1998

Val enjoyed her patrol time, even if it usually involved a headache and maybe a fight. It got her out of the house, away from people, and let her enjoy her dance music in peace. Most nights were pretty calm, too; while the Seeded Beast appearances were picking up slightly, they were going from happening every 2 weeks to not quite weekly. And while they had once been as scary to her as they were to civilians, she was starting to see them as old hat. Considering she had only been Phantom Violet since mid-April, she thought that level of confidence & comfort with her role reflected well on her.

Patrols were usually simple - walk around like normal, feel the presence of Seeded Beast & follow it, transform, and dispose of it. Now that the days were longer, it wasn’t as odd for her to be walking out after dinner. Her father & stepmother seemed to be bemused with her new routine, while her stepbrother didn’t care - as usual. That was fine - if he did care, he’d probably run his mouth to his asshole friends and leave Val to contend with Deanna again. School was bad enough on that front. She usually tried to be home by sunset, but tonight she could feel one. She had a duty - no, a moral responsibility - to track it down and keep others safe. Her dad would probably understand.

She had just started to approach the park, pretty sure that she had traced it to the decaying seating stand by the baseball diamond, when she heard an unwelcomely familiar voice.

“Val! Vaaaalll!”